Siemen's Theory

1. A number of authors contest Siemens' ideas. It is unsettling to be challenged about existing perceptions of "knowing", in particular, the lack of purpose in asking our students to KNOW and be able to RECALL what they know in assessment. Do you agree with them? Can you see Siemen's point of view? What is your position?

2.Give an example of ways in which you could use this theory in your classroom/learning context?

I think Siemen’s theory explains a lot about 21^st century learning, especially his view about the pace at which information flows and becomes redundant. The importance of needing to learn where to get the relevant and sometimes topical information from compared with previous centuries is much higher. I believe a good example at this can be found when looking at a very significant current global issue I.e. the GFC.

Firstly, if I look generally at the corporate sector, there are great advantages for a new employee to learn the idiosyncrasies of an organisation very quickly so as to be in-tune with or able to read the corporate culture and hence learn the appropriate ways to operate. E.g. who’s the boss, sources of power and information, networks, what to do and what not to do, what needs doing and what needs ‘smoke and mirrors’ etc. In many ways I think this represents a good example of Siemen’s theory because one learns less about how to do a good job (content of the pipes) and more about how to fit into the workplace networks and systems (the pipes).

In sticking with the corporate theme, I believe organisations have a pulse of their own I.e. ways of doing things, a culture, beliefs and expectations. I have worked for organisations that seem to learn from experience, move with the times and stay one step ahead of the pack. I do believe that this is because of the Board’s decisions, but where does the Board learn their craft?

The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable corporate skill and will lead to sources of information (pipes). So perhaps the collective ability of Board members to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns facilitates corporate learning. Or maybe one Board member has this skill and over time, other Board members learn this skill and before you know it, the organism……oops!!!  I mean organisation is living and breathing and recognising patterns to identify where to go to get information that informs their knowledge (pipes) for decision making.

As Siemen (2005) asks, “how do learning theories address moments where performance is needed in the absence of complete understanding?” Sorry for coming back to corporate knowledge, but I believe that employees who recognise organisational patterns, as outlined above, perform well in that organisation. But is the performance to a standard that will suffice in our society?

Government policy is designed to monitor this issue. The problem is that governments also operate in a way that relates to Siemen’s question outlined above. Governments load their human resources with staffers who don’t have complete understanding and yet still make policy decisions based on ‘moments where performance is needed in the absence of complete understanding’. (No knowledge of the pipe’s content).

So coming back to the GFC, if applying Siemen’s theory to the events of the GFC, I guess the first question to be asked is, “Are the mains connected to the pipes”? A question most recent retirees would be asking as their retirement funds ‘goes down the drain’ because most global economists were too busy looking at the pipes and not the flawed economic policy and economic practice flowing within the pipes. How often have we heard global economists ask the question, “How did we not see this coming”? Perhaps because corporations and governments were focused on the pipes and not the content. (Perhaps the public backlash and financial losses will teach them a lesson. A behaviourist learning opportunity  in the making maybe?)

Siemen’s view that networks can be connected to create an integrated whole, I think is true. I expect Einstein was thinking along these lines when he referred to being so smart that he knew everyone’s phone number………by looking in a phone book. The phone book being the network.

For me though I’m sorry but I see this theory of learning as one piece of the learning puzzle. Certainly a 21^st century piece and not one we would have been discussing 30 years ago. Yes it is important to know where the phone book is to source our phone number, but I think it is equally expected to know how to reach your friends and family, police, local member etc. if you’ve misplaced your phone book, which of course most of us can do. Cognitivism maybe?

As for using this theory in one of my lessons. I do see the value of knowing where to go as a means of quick information supply, and so within a lesson I would make that knowledge, I.e. 21^st century sources of information, available to my students. However I would be cautious and I would also supplement this by balancing with traditional research/knowledge/learning methods and I would certainly opt to find out if my students had consolidated their knowledge by mechanisms of testing.